Cayuga County: Saving smiles

… Last week, a dental hygienist and speaker touted the importance of focusing on oral hygiene with children to a group of pediatric professionals. During a presentation at Auburn Memorial Hospital, Laurie Turner said pediatricians should be working with families to address their young children’s teeth to prevent health issues down the line.

“If you don’t have a healthy mouth, you don’t have a healthy body,” said Turner, who speaks around the state with the community dentistry program Going Miles for Healthy Smiles.

… According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, tooth decay affects more than 25 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 5, and half of those between 12 and 19.

Two-thirds of children between the ages of 12 and 19 from low-income homes experience tooth decay, according to the CDC.

And while 9 million children in the country don’t have health insurance, twice that amount doesn’t have any dental coverage, Turner said.

She also said the issues are even more pressing in Cayuga County, where there is no fluoridation in the water…